Church Notices Archive 2012

Archived 2012 Church happenings and events concerning All Saints' Church East Garston.

 

 

The Parish of East Garston
Priest in Charge The Revd Martin Cawte.
The Vicarage, Newbury Street, Lambourn, Hungerford, RG17 8PD
Tel: 01488 73920 email: martin_cawte@hotmail.com

 

Churchwarden: Sally Wright
Willow brook Cottage, Front street, East Garston, Hungerford, RG17 7HW
Tel: 01488 648 679 email: sally-m-wright@lineone.net



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Dear Friends,


There is a great deal to report and much to thank the parish for. We are entering the next chapter in the life of our Church and we are very pleased to welcome The Revd Martin Cawte, who has been appointed Priest in Charge of the Parishes of Lambourn, Eastbury and East Garston. Martin’s licensing service is to be on Thursday  4 October in Lambourn Church at 7.30pm. This is a public service so please come along if you can.

 

Martin’s first service in East Garston, will be on Sunday 14 October – Harvest Festival Family Service at
12 noon, followed by a Harvest Lunch in the Village Hall. The children of the parish with mothers or fathers will again be decorating the south aisle in addition to adult decorations. Patricia Glover’s string ensemble now by tradition, will play at the service and Lambourn Church Choir have kindly agreed to be with us.

 

Martin has very helpfully written the following introduction to himself and his family;

 

Martin grew up in North Wales not far from Chester. He read mathematics at Jesus College Oxford and started work as a trainee accountant with Coventry City Council in 1973. Despite having been at the same school as Ian Rush, Gary Speed and Michael Owen he was pretty useless at playing Soccer and took up Hockey and Cricket instead. Martin was licensed as a Reader in Coventry Diocese in 1976, ordained in Southwark Diocese in 2000 and served his title in the Sanderstead Team Ministry (South Croydon). Martin was licensed in November 2003 as Honorary Curate to St Mary Greenham. From December 2006 Martin has been a Team Minister in the Hermitage Team Ministry with responsibility for Compton & East Ilsley.


Jill is from Coventry and following Social Work training has worked in a range of roles including relief warden of a retirement complex and post adoption support. She was licensed as a Pastoral Auxiliary in both Guildford and Southwark Dioceses and has taken an active role in Pastoral Support as well as organising meditative and informal worship including pram services on a regular basis.


We went out to China in 1997 just as Martin was selected for Ordination training to adopt Lizzie, whose Chinese name is Tong Xian. Lizzie comes from Tong Ling in Anhui province, (a “small” town of just under two million people on the banks of the Yangtze about 150 miles upstream from Shanghai) which we revisited in 2005. Lizzie is hoping to stay at the Downs School in Compton for her sixth form studies in English, Media and Sociology.


We have deep Anglican roots stretching back over many generations on both sides of our families. Our Christian journey has been much influenced by St Ethelwold’s Shotton, Flintshire & St Aldate’s Oxford (Martin); St James Styvechale, Coventry & Enfield Methodist (Jill); St Christopher Allesley Park, Coventry; St Mary Worcester Park, Surrey; All Saints Sanderstead, Croydon; Lee Abbey, Taize, Spring Harvest and New Wine. We enjoy good worship of a wide range of styles and are keen to find ways to help adults grow in their faith and to provide attractive opportunities for people to explore what it means to be a Christian in the 21st Century. Martin has kept up some reading in what today is called chaos theory and is keen to dispel the myth that God has in any sense been disproved. On the contrary we proclaim that the good God, who called our creation into existence, exists, has disclosed himself in the real, historic person of Jesus Christ and dwells in every Christian in the form of the Holy Spirit.


Martin took early retirement from the post of Head of Resources and Commissioning with West Berkshire Council in April 2007 and has been chair of the Church of England Men’s Society for Coventry Diocese in the early 1980s and worked as Diocesan Secretary for Southwark Diocese for ten years from 1988 to 1998.


We are looking forward to moving to Lambourn towards the end of September and getting to know all who live in the villages of Eastbury, East Garston and Lambourn.
Martin, Jill & Lizzie Cawte

 

 

The Queens Diamond Jubilee seems a while ago now, but there are some important postscripts to add. We are very grateful to Freddie and Sue Tulloch of East Garston Amenities and the East Garston Parish Council for the splendid organisation of the Jubilee celebrations in the village, of which the church was a part. Our celebrations were rightly different, but nevertheless the church was there, quite properly at the centre of the community.

Our Diamond Jubilee Garden was expertly constructed by Maria, her brother James and Martyn, and was sponsored very generously by Mrs Robert Lamplough. The theme being: a garden of thanks and reflection on the life of our Queen, with diamond white flowers. The garden attracted such a lot of unexpected attention from the parish, that many of you asked if the garden could remain permanently. We are sorry that this was not practical, maybe if we had realised the impact it would have, we could have constructed it differently. However the Acer tree remains, thanks to Mrs Lamplough, which Maria has under-planted with herbs. We are planning a commemorative plaque to remind us of the occasion.

Other features, were the children’s flower posies that Vikki organised to decorate the churchyard paths with Sophie Pannett Smith showing hers on the left.

The children also wrote cards to the Queen and 10 year old Hannah Glover’s card
is shown on the right. This also won her first prize at the Food and Produce show in July.

The diamond white flowers in the church
spectacularly arranged by Nicola Wall, were a delight – the first time that she had decorated the entire inside of the church, solo. This entailed Nicola working all Friday night before flying to Spain with her family on Saturday morning. Thank you Nicky and we are sorry that you were not there to hear the complimentary comments made by so many.

The exhibition inside the church, met with much enthusiasm. This told the story of the Queen’s life in pictures and text, with DVDs, mementos, artefacts and souvenirs. Thank you Ann and Martyn for organising this superb display which with Emma and Rachel serving afternoon tea in the churchyard, was enjoyed by many.

It was a surprise to those of us able to remember the Coronation, that so many children were absorbed in film of the Queen, not just in the recent past but also her childhood. Dawn Tonge and Joanne Rabbitts both made beautiful Diamond Jubilee kneelers for the church, which we will ask to be blessed, perhaps at our Harvest Festival service.

 

An aspect of the exhibition that attracted a great deal of attention, was the section on East Garston residents who have had contact with the Queen. Robert Jefferys received an MBE for his Voluntary Services awarded at Windsor Castle by the Queen; Christopher Tonge together with his wife Dawn was invited to a Garden Party at Buckingham Palace to mark his 25 years of service on East Garston Parish Council;

Major General Sir James Eyre (deceased)was Commander of the Household Cavalry from October 1975 – September 1978; Colonel Marcus Coombs was a former Commanding Officer of The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards. Penny Locke had an intriguing tale to tell about her musician father, who quite unexpectedly was invited to meet the Queen.

 

It was fitting and memorable that Sunday June 3rd started with our service of Thanksgiving for the Queen’s Life of Dedication and Service, in a full church.


It was very appropriate that the young people in The String Ensemble (and one or two not quite so young) played I Vow to Thee My Country and David and Hannah Glover played a duet on violin and cello from The Bohemian Girl.A happy surprise to us was that so many people stayed after coffee to look at the flowers and the exhibition. Then we were all off to Freddie and Sue’s Big Lunch. Despite the weather, people still gathered on Tuesday evening for The Party in the Garden, which was held inside the church instead. A picture of the garden was presented to Mrs Lamplough, David and Hannah gave an encore performance of their duet, Ann and Jenny served canapés and Paul and Linda lots of fizz. People seemed so happy to sit and talk, look again at the exhibition and re-live every aspect of such a memorable weekend in the village.

 

 

A remarkable number of people from right across the parish, played a part behind the scenes, in the church celebrations. Thank you everybody for stewarding at the exhibition, for making beautiful cakes and sandwiches for the Saturday afternoon tea, for organising the refreshments after the Sunday service, for lending your precious souvenirs for the exhibition, to Rachel and her parents for organising the furniture and equipment for tea in the churchyard, to James for his technical help with the exhibition, Martyn for his photographic skills, Julie for her faithful and thorough cleaning of the church, the churchyard team of Trevor, Martyn and Richard who continue to tackle the grass cutting so diligently as well as the tidying of the churchyard and to the members of the Parochial Church Council who masterminded our somewhat ambitious Diamond Jubilee celebrations.


BUT, most of all thank you everyone who came and supported our efforts and all of you who gave so generously to our Diamond Jubilee Gift Appeal for The Queen’s Church. You contributed a splendid £2,200 to church funds: we are very grateful.


On the 21July, The East Garston Food Festival took place in the Jubilee Meadow. This was the initiative of the Allotments Association and included the Annual Flower and Produce Show. We are very grateful to Zak Frost for inviting us to run our Church Cake Stall and Light Lunch and Tea Tent, as part of the festival. As there is to be no village fete this year, things would have been very difficult for the church, as we rely on income earned at the fete. So thank you Zak for asking us to be involved in your highly successful initiative.

 

We would like to thank all of you who once again rose to the occasion and produced your fabulous cakes for the stall. This year Linda Tame organised the stall with Debbie Hedley and her mother Gwen forming an effective threesome.
Thank you for your efforts and support.

The light lunch and tea tent was a new venture as the festival ran from 11.30am – 3.30pm. We served sandwiches and savouries together with some more of your delicious cakes, thank you, with coffee tea and soft drinks. We organised a seating area outside our tent – a good move as we were next to the Pimms tent. This proved a very popular spot, particularly with our friends from Lambourn, as we had glorious sunshine. Ann, Vikki and Rachel of our PCC served food and drink, together with Paul expertly dispensing coffee and tea with all the skill of a master Costa man! Annette, Libby and Richard kindly helped with the food serving, and Emma was assigned to the Beer Tent. Renee was consigned to her kitchen, valiantly running a production line in Victoria Sandwich cakes. All in all, a good team approach! We took a very welcome £544 on the cake stall and lunch and tea tent. Thank you all who helped, all who baked and all who came to purchase or consume.

 

 

On 29 July East Garston hosted a team service. So the 3 parishes of Lambourn, Eastbury and East Garston came together with the Choir from Lambourn to celebrate Lammas – the ancient tradition marking the beginning of harvest. The Revd Linda Hillier, who conducted our Rogationtide services in 2010 officiated at our service. Linda is an Agricultural Chaplain and a member of the Diocesan Rural Officers team.
Traditionally at Lammas (1st August) a farmer would present the priest with a loaf baked from the first wheat harvested, and this was used for Holy Communion. People of the village would pray for a bountiful harvest, since their livelihood for the next year depended upon this.

So Tony Manley of Shepherd’s bakery at Chieveley, again baked us a magnificent Harvest Sheaf. Elved Phillips, who is employed by the company that handles the grain after it has been harvested in the Lambourn Valley, carried the Lammas sheaf in the procession behind the Choir and presented it to Linda Hillier to bless. The loaf was then used later in the service, when people received Holy Communion.

Since most of our Young Families Group were away on holiday, we were concerned that not many people would be in church, but in fact we were wrong. We had a full church, seasonally decorated with amber flowers by Diana Pilling, with many people from Lambourn as well as from our own parish. There was a very happy spirit, with people receiving Linda warmly.

We had in the congregation four families with babies: two of which are due to be baptised shortly and one that was baptised a year ago. We also had some families with children from our Young Families Group. Elved read the first reading, Diana the Gospel and Lydia Ashplant from Lambourn gave the Intercessions. Coffee afterwards was a jovial affair and then Linda joined us for lunch at The Queens Arms. Thank you to all who came and made it such a happy occasion


We are fortunate that since 2005, we have had successive waves of children being born in East Garston. We are now on the 4th wave (since our Young Families Group was formed in 2007) and in this group we have Ottilie (right) who was baptised in July 2011, in the arms of Victoria her mother, also Lucas and Alice - baptised in May 2012 and Beatrice in July 2012. In September Jemima will be baptised, in October Gemma and in November Beth. It looks as though we shall have plenty of baby cherubs in our children’s Nativity service this year!


It was a real joy to see Ottilie at our recent Lammas Service, slowly walking (or toddling) up to the sanctuary rail for a blessing from The Revd Linda Hillier, and then to the delight of the choir, very deliberately negotiating the chancel steps on her return to her seat.

A very important development has taken root in the life of the church. We are very grateful to Patricia Glover, who in the last 2 or 3 years has developed The East Garston Active Music Club. The members are mostly young children from East Garston village, but not exclusively so. Patricia teaches pupils to play string instruments and was one of the founder members of our Young Families Group. Patricia is keen to to develop the club to encompass a wider range of children taking part. A children’s choir is on the list of both Patricia’s and the church’s aims for the future.
 

The String Ensemble now play at 3 or 4 family services a year in Church. The dedication, discipline and professionalism that Patricia inculcates in these young musicians is impressive, as is the support that their parents give to the venture.


The children, and I believe the adults (though Jonathan might try to say otherwise), tell me that they love playing in church. In fact such is their enthusiasm that they love playing anywhere.
There are more plans for this group in the future: their involvement in the church is most welcome.

There is such a lot to thank the parish for and very many people are associated in some way with the church. We should remember in particular Peter Cook who manually winds the church clock twice a week, also the Bell Ringers and their Tower Captain Mark Brock, whom we have the pleasure of hearing ring – it was so good to hear them on the opening day of the Olympics in the morning breeze at 8.12am. Ken Tarbox is another stalwart, who in managing the Parish Council web site, expertly displays the church pages, including his recent film of the Jubilee garden. .....Thank you Ken.

 

 

 

Lastly for your diaries we are listing the special services that will take place during the rest of 2012. These are in addition to our regular Holy Communion services on the second and fourth Sundays at 9am:

 


Sunday 30 September at 10.30am Lambourn Patronal Festival – Holy Communion Team Service (at Lambourn)


Sunday 30 September at 12.15pm Baptism of Jemima Aparicio (at East Garston)


Sunday 14 October at 12 noon Harvest Festival, followed by Harvest Lunch


Sunday 21 October at 12.15pm Baptism of Gemma Hedley


Sunday 4 November at 10.30am Patronal Festival, Team Service at 10.30am followed by Parish Lunch


Saturday 10 November at 10.45am Remembrance Service at the War Memorial


Sunday 25 November Baptism at 12.15pm of Beth Furneaux


Sunday 16 December at 6.00pm Candlelight Carol Service.


Saturday 22 December at 3pm Children’s Nativity Service at 3.00pm followed by Children’s Tea Party.


Sunday 25 December at 9.00am Christmas Day Holy Communion Service.

 

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I would like to thank the parish for your very generous help and kindness shown to me in the last 4 years. It has been a great comfort to have your continuing support, especially when it has been necessary for me to take services such as the Carol Service, Christmas Morning, the Jubilee Service and Mothering Sunday. Happily, now that Martin is with us, things will be so much easier for us all and I believe that we shall go from strength to strength.

 

Yours sincerely

  
 
Churchwarden

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Friends,


I am writing to let you know of developments in the church at East Garston as well as some dates for your diaries. But first I would like to thank everyone who took part in Mothering Sunday and Easter Day services: the string ensemble conducted by Patricia Glover that played again so beautifully, the children that sang, said prayers, greeted the congregation, took the collection on 18th March, the children who made cards and posies under the guidance of Ann Phillips, Vikki Brooks and Rachel Brown and PCC members and others who arranged flowers that later they gave to their mothers. On Easter Day the church was beautifully decorated by Diana Pilling, Nicola Wall and PCC members, again with Vikki supervising the making of posies for the Easter Garden. Martyn Wright, Ann Phillips and Trevor Butcher, created again a memorable and highly symbolic Easter Garden and Joan Jefferys as always supplied flowers and greenery for the posies. Thank you everyone for your efforts, which were as usual accomplished with reverence and dedication.  The pictures and text for Mothering Sunday are now on the web site and the Easter flowers and garden will be shortly........Please click here


We have had to change the date of our annual meeting – the APCM, which is preceded by the Parishioners meeting. It is now on Monday 23 April in The Friends Meeting House at 7.15pm. The Parishioners Meeting is to elect the Churchwardens for the next year and everyone on the West Berkshire Council East Garston Register of Electors or the Church Electoral Roll is entitled to vote. The APCM which follows on immediately is open only to those on the Church Electoral Roll. This meeting will elect the Parochial Church Council Members for the year, and a report of the last year in the church will be given.
Both meetings will be chaired by The Area Dean – The Revd Canon Rita Ball. It would be good to have as many as possible of those on the Church Electoral Roll with us, if you can. Thank you.

 

Calendar dates:
Sunday 29 April 2012 – Joint Service for all 3 parishes at Lambourn: !0.30am Holy Communion when the Bishop of Oxford, The Rt Revd John Pritchard, will be taking the service.

 

The Queens Diamond Jubilee Weekend: Saturday 2nd June – Tuesday 5th June 2012. We are planning a Thanksgiving Service for the Queen’s Life of Dedication and Service, on Sunday 3rd June at 9am. The church will be decorated accordingly with flowers for the weekend and children will be decorating the churchyard paths. There will be a photographic exhibition in the church illustrating the Queen’s Life. Due to the kindness and generosity of Mrs Robert Lamplough, we are building a (temporary) Diamond Jubilee Garden in the approach to the church lychgate. Maria Carver is the Project Leader for the garden and if all goes well we will sell the plants at the end of the celebrations in aid of church funds.

 

Saturday 21 July 2012 – The East Garston Allotment Association Food Festival, incorporating the third Annual Flower and Produce Show. The Church is again responsible for a grand Cake Stall – may we come again this year to ask if you will bake your superb cakes again? – Thank you. We are also responsible for the tea tent. We are aiming to train teenagers – boys and girls to serve the teas. Please contact Vikki (649 744) or Sally (648 679) - if you would like to help with serving or making sandwiches, cakes, scones, trifles..........etc.

 

Sunday 29 July 2012 we shall again celebrate Lammas – the start of Harvest season, with 3 services out in the field around the parish and lunch to follow – possibly a BBQ or picnic. This is a joint celebration to which Eastbury and Lambourn parishes are invited. It was great fun last year – so please join us.

 


 

Progress on appointment of new Parish Priest
Not only are we preparing for a busy summer ahead – (described above), but also we have the over-arching responsibility weighing heavily upon us, of being involved in the selection of our new priest.

 

People in the parishes are very healthily interested in developments on this front. I am constantly being asked to explain the process by which the new priest is to be appointed, the timescale and what point we are at now. This desire to know what is happening is a very positive indicator for the Church of England: there is certainly no sign of indifference. So I am happy to describe what we, the Parochial Church Councils of Lambourn, Eastbury and East Garston churches are currently undertaking. The whole process of selecting the new priest this time is under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Reading.

 

The Churchwardens of the three parishes met together several times in the last month or so, with the Parish Development Adviser for the Oxford Archdeaconry - The Revd Canon Olivia Graham and our Area Dean - The Revd Canon Rita Ball. The first stage is to prepare a profile for the job of Priest in the Lambourn Valley. This is done by describing the three parishes and how they differ, identifying the challenges for the future, and the strengths that can be built upon. From that we can form a view about what kind of person is going to be able to galvanise the three parishes into working more closely together, sharing best practice and respecting each other’s strengths.

 

Along the way each PCC has met separately with one or two invited regular church goers. We have also, as a joint group taken part in a half day workshop at St Mary’s Convent in Wantage, when each PCC group presented their contribution to the profile. We are now preparing the draft composite profile, which will go to the Bishop of Reading – The Rt Revd Andrew Proud, for him to add his preface. Producing the profile may seem to some to be an unnecessarily lengthy process, but since it is the basis of the job that is being applied for and also the key to qualities and characteristics that are desirable in the new priest, it is extremely important.

 

The process then continues with the possible advertising of the post in the national press, shortlisting the candidates that apply and then carrying out interviews. Two members of each PCC have been chosen as Parish Representatives: they will be involved in interviewing the candidates along with the Bishop and other senior clergy in the Oxford Diocese. However the plan will be to provide opportunities for people in the parishes to meet the candidates as part of the interview programme. It is difficult to predict the precise timetable, but if the post is advertised in June, the interviews could be in July/August. If the successful candidate is in post when the job offer is made, it is likely that three months notice will need to be given. So that it could be towards the end of the year before the new priest is licensed and installed.

 

Given that each of our parishes has its own very distinctively different culture, producing a common basis on which to recruit our new priest, is no mean task. We will keep you posted on further progress.


 

Farewell occasion for The Revd Tony Cumberlidge
As you will know the gathering to say goodbye to Tony is on Thursday 3 May at 7.45pm at the Queens Arms. We are having a card printed which will be ready next week for everyone to sign, who has contributed to the gift, whether or not they are able to be with us. I will be contacting you all in the next week or so.


Thank you everyone very much for your generosity.
You will know from the letter that you were sent, that we are planning to give Tony a cheque for the total amount donated. If you have not donated but intend to, it would be very helpful to receive this now, so that we can write the cheque. I apologise for reminding you. Cheques can be made payable to East Garston PCC and sent in the post to me. Thank you very much.


Tony is very much looking forward to seeing you all again.
(NB: this is a wine and canapés evening.)

 

With best wishes,

  
 
Churchwarden

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All Saints Church, East Garston - Holy Week and Easter Services


Dear Friends
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We look forward to welcoming everyone at our services in East Garston during this most important week of the year in the Church’s calendar, when Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, riding on a donkey, through to his crucifixion on Good Friday and resurrection on Easter Day.


April 1st – Palm Sunday
  ~ Unfortunately this service has had to be cancelled due to  illness of the Priest. The Service
is now at Lambourn Church at 10.30am.

 

April 4th - Wednesday in Holy Week
7.00pm  Holy Communion Service (Said).

 

April 6th – Good Friday
12.00noon  Meditation on the Cross - with hymns

 

April 8th – Easter Day
9.00am   Holy Communion Children lay posies in the
Easter Garden after the service.

We will be decorating the Church on Easter Saturday morning - please contact Sally (648 679) if you would like to help. If you can provide greenery, flowers or a donation towards the flowers, we should be very pleased, as we are encouraging the children of the parish to help decorate and to make posies.


We are building an Easter Garden on Saturday morning.
  Adult help and materials (on loan) would be appreciated: stones, gravel, turf, plants etc. Thank you.


Thank you to everyone
  and particularly The Young Families of the parish, for contributing and coming to the Mothering Sunday service. Special thanks to the String Ensemble who played so beautifully for us again and to the children who met and greeted the congregation, sang, read prayers and took the collection. What a fine example they set in their tender years, performing their duties with reverence and dedication. (The pics and text will be on the EG web site shortly.)


With best wishes,

 

Yours sincerely

  
 
Churchwarden



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All Saints Church April 2012


The year in the church has been eventful, but ended in great sadness, when The Revd Tony Cumberlidge, who has been our priest since September 2004, retired on grounds of ill health. Tony had sufficiently recovered after three years of sickness absence, to resume his ministry in East Garston from July 2011 until the end of the year, but sadly was not able to complete this term as he underwent a triple heart by-pass operation in November 2011. Tony has moved to Nottinghamshire and is recovering well. There are now plans for him to minister again in the Diocese of Southwell as a retired priest, to which he is greatly looking forward.


The church in East Garston has developed significantly under Tony’s ministry. It has become a place of celebration and happiness for many people rather than a few. Our festivals have been innovative and have attracted people within and beyond the parish; our Remembrance Service at the War Memorial is a firm fixture now and much appreciated; Rogation and Lammas have been celebrated in the field - reflecting the importance of the agricultural economy in our parish. Our Young Families Group have added a very important dimension to parish activities; 50 children and young adults have been Baptised here since Tony has been our priest.

 

We have had joint services for all three parishes with lunches to follow at The Queens Arms, the Village Hall, The Plough at Eastbury, the Swan at Great Shefford and children’s tea parties at the Quaker Meeting House and the Village Hall. We have had concerts, madrigals sung from the top of the tower, The Bishop of Reading - The Rt Revd Stephen Cottrell, coming to a Songs of Praise service and so on. Themes from Tony Cumberlidge’s ministry have been - the church is there for everyone rather than the few, and the church at the centre of the community, not on the margins. Tony has nurtured the idea that there are many ways of serving the church: all manner of contributions are very much welcomed from everyone.


Perhaps the most significant aspect of Tony’s ministry has been the pastoral care that he has given to his flock. This is essentially private work and therefore not talked of and known, but because Tony was so much amongst us in the village and in contact with the goings on in the parish, he was able to bring comfort, hope, love and support, whenever he was needed. Many parishioners will identify with this thought.
We will be able to thank Tony and say goodbye properly when he returns for his farewell on 3rd May 2012 (details from Sally Wright 648 679).


Some highlights of the year have been in the period July to October when Tony was back with us: firstly on a scorching hot day at the end of July we celebrated the old custom of Lammas – the start of the harvest period. The festival Baptism through the Ages at East Garston followed on 10th/11th September with a grand concert on the Saturday evening. Harvest Festival and our Patronal Festival followed in October. The number and range of people to thank for these occasions is too great to do justice here, but please click the preceeding yellow text links and you will see the full story with the credits – text and photos.


I would like to thank a few of the people who have given such help in the last year. Please forgive me for not mentioning everyone as there are literally too many to mention all: Ken for his unfailing superb coverage on the EG web site, the Bell Ringers, Peter – keeper of the church clock! The flower arrangers – (principals) Diana, Nicky, Ann; the cleaning team (principals) Julie, Dawn and Bonnie, the Churchyard team - Martyn, Richard and Trevor, Lammas and Harvest lunches - Glenys, Dawn, Ann; Christopher with maintenance help and Martyn again, for his unfailing help with everything that needs doing!


Special thanks to our Parochial Church Council members for their support in this last year and now as they share the responsibility for helping to select our new priest, whom we look forward to welcoming later in the year.
Lastly but very importantly – thank you all for your loyalty and support to me in a difficult year.

 

Yours sincerely

  
 
Churchwarden

 

 

 

 

 

 

22nd February 2012


Dear Friends,

I am writing to give you an update on developments at East Garston church. You will know that the Revd Tony Cumberlidge has now sadly retired on ill health grounds and is living in Nottinghamshire. Tony has made good progress since his major heart surgery at the end of 2011 and is planning to resume his ministry as a retired priest in the Diocese of Southwell, when his health permits.


I wrote last December, saying that we are arranging a farewell occasion for Tony when we can say goodbye properly, since his emergency move into hospital prevented this happening before he left the Lambourn valley. This will be in East Garston and will take place on Thursday May 3rd, at The Queens Arms in the evening. I will write separately to everyone in the parish about this, as well as to friends in Lambourn and Eastbury. For now we just want to mention the date for your diaries – as very many people have expressed a wish to be there.

 

It seems a long time since our Christmas Day Family Service, when delightfully, children in the parish (and far beyond!) including Pat Glover’s Music Club String Ensemble, took a major part in the service.
Thank you everyone for coming and filling the church, even though to Tony’s great disappointment, he was not able to take his last Christmas service with us. If you have not seen the pictures on the EG web site, please click here.



Now to Mothering Sunday, when we will have a similar Family Service at 12 noon. The Music Club will again be playing, with even more musicians! We shall ask all the children to sing as at Christmas – this time it will be the chorus of All things Bright and Beautiful and the first verse: Each little flower that opens (if they can!). Mother - bedtime practice worked last time, thanks.

 

Other things that we will ask children to do are: prayers, readings, taking the collection etc.
On Saturday 17th March, as before, we will be having 2 sessions for the children to make cards and posies of flowers to give to their mother at the service the next day. This will take place in
The Friends Meeting House, at 10am-12noon and 2pm–4pm. All materials will be provided.

 

Adults - please bring if you wish, a flower or posy to the service, to remember your mother. These will be placed on the altar for the duration of the service, or given to mothers at the service.
We are hoping that as last year we will have mothers with babies in prams at the service.

 

Other dates for your diary: (details to follow nearer the time)

Palm Sunday, Holy Week and Easter Day 1st - 8th April
Church Annual meeting on 24 April 7.15pm The Friends Meeting House
The Queens Diamond Jubilee celebrations 2nd 3rd and 4th June

 


Selection of a successor to The Revd Tony Cumberlidge:
The selection process is underway now. We will keep you informed as things progress, but it is important that you know that it will be some months before we can expect to see a new Priest in Charge installed. This is because the selection process is thorough and necessarily quite complex. Also, the new incumbent when chosen, will probably have to give 3 months notice in his/her current post.
Thank you for your continuing loyalty and support.

 

Yours sincerely

  
    
Churchwarden

 

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